Get plugged into Philly’s green economy this Friday

What’s the current state and future of the green economy in Philadelphia? In Pennsylvania? In the United States?

The Free Library’s Business Resource and Innovation Center (BRIC) will help you figure out what’s new with the city’s sustainability-minded businesses and agencies this Friday, March 10, with a Green Economy Fair and panel discussion with local experts.

According to administrative librarian Rebekah Ray, attendees will be those who want to learn more about the green economy “as citizens, consumers and perhaps as future entrepreneurs. It is also an opportunity for people working in the Green Economy to network and inspire each other.”

The panel (moderated by, full disclosure, this editor) will spend the first hour of the event debating how to create more “green-collar” jobs, local vs. global perspectives, the future of solar and more.

Here are the day’s deets:

• Where — Free Library of Philadelphia, Parkway Central branch 
• When — 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. 
• How much — Free
• Why — “Meet the entrepreneurs and nonprofit leaders who are growing the green economy of the future both locally and globally”

Here are the panelists:

• Emily Schapira — Philadelphia Energy Authority
• Micah Gold-Markel — Solar States (see our past coverage of the social enterprise here)
• Jack Griffin — Metropolis Farms (see Technical.ly Philly’s coverage of the “farm of the future” here)
• Mark Vanderhelm — VP of Energy and Waste, Walmart
• Kristen Seale — Keystone Energy Efficiency Alliance

Aaaand here are the tabling organizations:

• American Association of Blacks in Energy
• Bartram’s Garden Community Farm
• Culinary Literacy Center
• Delaware Valley Green Building Council
• Keystone Energy Efficiency Alliance
• Greensgrow
• GRID Magazine
• Metropolis Farm
• Philadelphia Area Cooperative Alliance
• Philadelphia Beekeepers Guild
• Philadelphia Energy Authority
• Philadelphia Office of Sustainability
• Post Green Homes
• Solar States
• Sustainable Business Network